Have you ever heard of a life coach?  A life coach is someone that works with another individual to help him or her in certain areas of their lives.  Part psychiatrist, part cheerleader, the life coach does just what the title suggests – they “coach” you through difficult times and help you achieve your goals.  If this sounds interesting to you, it could be your way to become a successful WAHM and bring in some extra income.

There are several skills that will be helpful if you want to become a life coach.  Certification is not necessary, but there are institutions that offer accredited training programs to become Life Coaches.  Rather than a general life coach, you may want to scale it down so you offer services in one particular area.  But having a specialty means you will need to know as much about that one area as you can.  You will need to have great communication skills.  How can you help someone to reach his or her goals without great communication?  But, you will also need to be a good listener.

What do you need to get started as a life coach?  You will need a phone line, computer, and Internet connection.  You will need contracts for your clients to sign.  Look online for personality profile tests.  You can use the ones you find online or develop your own for clients or potential clients to fill out.  You will also need questionnaires for them to fill out before a coaching session.  This will consist of questions that help you better understand where they are and what they need to accomplish to get where they want to be.

You will also need to think about what type of payments you will accept.  Do you plan to accept cash and checks only or do you want to accept credit cards as well. Will you accept payments through Paypal?  In order to accept Paypal transactions, you will need a Paypal account also.  All this should be decided and in place before you start advertising for clients.

Now that you’re ready to get started, you need to decide what area – relationships, life, business, weight loss – in which you want to specialize.  See if any local resources have training programs on this particular area.  Remember that accreditation and training is not necessary, but will offer you something to show potential clients to help them realize that you do have the expertise needed in a particular area.

After that is all set up, you will need to make your presence known.  A web site is a great way to put yourself and your services out there.  You can also network with other life coaches through forums and message boards.  They can offer an abundance of support and advice that will be very helpful when starting out.

Marketing yourself is one of the most important parts of getting your new business off the ground.  What marketing strategies do you plan to use?  Do some online research to get ideas on how other life coaches started out and what strategies they used.

See if there are other life coaches in your town and find out what they specialize in and how much they charge if you can.  It is always a good idea to keep a close eye on the competition and know as much about them as possible.  Most of all, have confidence in yourself and your abilities.  How can someone else trust you to help them if they think you do not even have confidence in yourself?  With a little hard work and perseverance, you can build your business.  It probably will not come overnight, but if you keep at it, you can make it work!